So…. I have a choir concert tomorrow and it will be Livestreamed! :)

Sorry for the late reply. Been prepping and starting up with class again on top of work (and slowly work through my backlog of projects and tasks… I should be dug out by end of summer. No joke, my backlog is that long, but some projects are on hold until warmer weather, so it’s sizable, but not as bad as if nothing was on hold due to the outside temperature).

The concert went well! We’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from those who have attended and those who were able to watch. The soloists all did a great job, as did the orchestra, chime players, and water glass players. A few spots were a little scary or rather, less secure, particularly when we all came in half a step above for one song (by mistake of the conductress, but it worked out… it was an accapella piece, so not noticeable to anyone else, but those of us singing. She admits the mistake as well, and almost stopped us, but we ran with it well. 🙂 ). A few spots seemed a bit ‘less secure’ and I felt more noticeable because they were really ‘exposed’ places with very little underlying, such as no orchestra and only 1 voice part, particularly in the Mass at the opening of the last section where only 2 or 3 of us Alto’s (hey!!!! where is everyone else!!!), but it comes in very soft, so it worked out in the end I suppose. I think 2 more acoustic panels (one behind the Sopranos and one behind the Altos) would have helped the balance as well. Still, not bad for a community choir and the music was just very lush and wonderful and different than what you typically hear (like Beethoven, and Mozart to name a few). It’s the first time I’ve ever been in Zankel for anything and I found the acoustics in the space to be simply lovely (and it’s pretty inside as well).

The spring line-up (and unfortunately will not be at a location with livestream set up, since it’s a church) will be music from South America and South African freedom songs. So we’ll be singing in Spanish, Zulu, Xhosa, and some English and Latin. Taken from the email I just got a few days ago:

The Battenkill Chorale Spring concert includes vibrant music from Argentina and a tribute to Nelson Mandela. The program features Ariel Ramirez’ sensuous Misa Criolla with indigenous folk instruments, plus music by Ginastera and Albeniz, South African freedom songs, American Civil Rights freedom songs, the South African National Anthem, and traditional choral music reflecting Mandela’s spirit. Featured soloists are an African drumming ensemble, Andean folk ensemble, and vocalist Leah Carroll.

Traditional choral music reflecting Mandela’s spirit chosen from this list (and possibly others):
Fedak – There is a Season
Fedak – A Parting Blessing
Whalum – Oh, Freedom

tentatively:
Verdi – Va pensiero
Beethoven – Ode to Joy
Sibelius – Finlandia Hymn

*Fedak is the composer husband of one of the soloists we sometimes use and a friend of the Chorale.

We also have a semi-annual choir trip coming up next summer. It was postponed this year (which was supposed to go to Ireland *sadness*), but it sounds like it is looking like Scandinavia might be it for next year. Should know for sure soon on location.

Not too shabby for a community choir out in the country in the seeming ‘middle of nowhere’ northern NY. You don’t have to be in a major city to hear great music or the Arts and have people be supportive and welcoming (I’ve been in choirs that were… much more clicky and divisive, so this is a pleasant change indeed, and valuable 1 night of sanity a week after last year’s chaos and hell. 🙂

Ok, back to studying!

Hehe… well, knowing some conducting (I was a music ed major until I switched to a computer major), it’s a job with a lot of work. As a musician (vocal or instrumental) do know each piece we perform, in this case we have been practicing since Sept. with most of December off for the holidays, but we only had 2 rehearsals with the orchestra and chime players. I certainly have never known any Russian before Sept. outside of a random word or two. One piece, Bogoroditse Devo, was familiar to some of the longer term members and some of us needed to learn really quick, since we had to sing it early in the Fall at the memorial service for a choir member show suddenly passed just before Fall rehearsals began (Brigid was 91 … she was a German survivor from the Holocaust and her husband was Russian, hence the Russian piece) – we dedicated that particular piece to her for our concert.

The conductor’s hand signals indicate many things (and some conductors are easier to read than others). They have to tell the musicians the beat and tempo of a piece, dynamics (whether she needs more from a section or instrument, whether to back off in a spot, soften or get louder, etc.) giving queues for entrances, usually at crucial or particularly tricky places, there could be indications for look at her more or enunciate in a particular way, or an emotion that needs to be conveyed in a passage. She might give starting pitches, particularly in the case of an acappella piece (using a pitch pipe if no other instrument is available, unless someone is blessed with perfect pitch!). The piece we started out slightly higher on, the soloist in the liturgical chant ended a half step too high and his last note is the same as our opening. She should have technically corrected us with the note, so we began on the correct pitch or stopped us to have us start again on the correct pitch, but she did not. I think we all realized pretty quick it was slightly higher and a different key than what we were used to, but we just went with it. Maybe that explains a bit better of how that happened, but it all worked out and still sounded lovely. 🙂

Oh, for anyone curious, our program was:

Tebe Poem
Dostoyno Yest – Pyotr Tchaikovsky
*note, those two pieces are sung together in a Russian liturgical setting*

Spaseniye sodelal, op. 25, no.5 (????) – Pavel Chesnokov

Hvalite Ghospoda s nebes – Pavel Chesnokov

Tebe Poem
Dostoyno Yest – Sergei Rachmaninoff

Bogoroditse Devo (1915) – Sergei Rachmaninoff

Northern Lights (2007) – Ola Gjeilo (Yay-lo)

Northern Lights (2013) – Eriks Esenvalds

***Intermission***

Sunrise Mass (2008) – Ola Gjeilo
-The Spheres
-Sunrise
-The City
-Identity & the Ground